JP2002099928A - System, device, and method for supporting information provision - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To more intimately guide a virtual space. SOLUTION: User terminals 12 and 14 obtain access to a server computer 16 via the Internet 10 to display a virtual space. As a guide of the virtual space, the composited image of a character formed of user's actual face image data and CG is used, and the virtual space is guided by this guide. The actual face image of the user is updated to that of another user, after a fixed duration.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an information providing support system, and more particularly to a guide system for efficiently providing information to a user in a virtual space.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, a system has been developed in which a virtual space is formed on a computer, and various information is provided to the user while appropriately guiding the accessed user into the virtual space.

In the virtual space, as in the real world, a guide is useful for visiting various facilities in the virtual space or efficiently obtaining various information in the virtual space. It has been proposed that a character generated in graphics) be used as a guide and that the guide explain the virtual space.

The concept of a guide is employed not only in a virtual space but also in a general computer application. For example, when a help button of an application is operated, a character is displayed at a predetermined position on a screen. The operation method will be described. Thus, the user can easily operate the application according to the description of the guide.

[0005]

However, conventionally, the character functioning as a guide is a uniform character created by CG and is not familiar or familiar to the user.

[0006] In particular, if the character is biased toward a particular hobby or preference, it is comfortable for users having the same preference, but the preferences may not match for other users. There is a possibility that it will.

Of course, a configuration in which a plurality of characters are created by CG and a user selects a favorite character from among the plurality of characters can be considered, but for a user who is not familiar with mechanical characters created by CG. It seems that there is no significant difference in any character.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the related art, and an object of the present invention is not to create a character using CG in advance on the system side, but to make the user feel more intimate. Another object of the present invention is to provide a system in which more users can participate and enjoy a virtual space.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a system for transmitting and receiving information between a server computer connected to a communication network and a terminal, by providing a guide in a virtual space displayed on the terminal. An information providing support system for displaying, wherein the server computer transmits virtual space image data to the terminal and guide image data including a user image provided by a user, and the terminal includes the server Receiving data from a computer, displaying the virtual space image, and displaying the guide image in the virtual space image. Instead of using a character created by CG as a guide, by using a user image provided by the user, for example, a guide including a user's actual face image (real face image), the user can participate in the virtual space. You can have a feeling of being. In addition, it is also preferable to use a photograph of a pet, animal or plant as a guide instead of the user's actual face image. Furthermore, 3CG created by the user, a moving image, or the like can be adopted. Further, a guide may be a photograph of a plurality of people or a combination of people, animals, plants, and the like. In this way, by creating a guide based on an image provided by the user, a guide suitable for the user's preference can be used.

Here, it is preferable that the guide image data is composite data of a real face image of the user and a body image of a character created by CG. As a result, the virtual space and the reality can be integrated, and the enjoyment in the virtual space can be increased.

Preferably, the server computer updates at least a user image portion of the guide image data every predetermined period and transmits the updated user image portion. This allows
Many users can participate as guides of the virtual space, and can provide the virtual space to a wide range of users, and can provide information and the like.

Further, the present invention provides an information providing support apparatus for displaying a virtual space and a guide on a terminal connected to a communication network. This device stores a user image data provided by a user such as a real face image of the user, a device for storing character data created by CG, and combines the character data with the user image data. And a means for transmitting virtual space data and the guide data to the terminal.

It is preferable that the apparatus further comprises means for updating user image data such as a real face image of the user in the guide data. The method of updating is arbitrary, for example, after setting a real face image of a certain user for a predetermined period of time, changing to a real face image of the next user,
Alternatively, it is used as guide data only for a period designated by the user, and after the designated period elapses, a real face image of another user is used. It is also possible to store a user's real face image for a certain period of time, that is, an update schedule in advance, and update the schedule according to the schedule.

Further, the present invention provides an information providing support method for displaying a guide in a virtual space displayed on a terminal in a system for transmitting and receiving information between a server computer and a terminal connected via a communication network. This method
Obtaining user image data from a user using the terminal, storing the user image data in a storage device, generating guide image data including the user image data, and converting virtual space data and the guide image data to the terminal And displaying the virtual space and the guide image arranged in the virtual space on the terminal.

Here, it is preferable that the guide image data is generated by synthesizing the actual face image data with the body data of a character created by CG.

Preferably, the real face image data used for the guide image data is updated to new real face image data every predetermined period.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a system configuration diagram of the present embodiment. In this configuration, user terminals 12 and 14 and a server computer 16 are mutually connected via the Internet 10. The user terminals 12, 14 may be PCs or mobile information terminals. Internet 1
Any device including an interface for connecting to 0, an input unit, an output unit, and an arithmetic processing unit can be used. Each of the user terminals 12 and 14 includes a web browser, and displays a web page described in HTML or the like transmitted from the server computer 16 on a screen. The web page is transmitted from the server computer 16 to the user terminals 12 and 14 using the HTTP protocol, and is transmitted to the user terminals 12 and 14.
Requests the transmission by uniquely specifying the web page with the URL, and the server computer 16 searches the web page database described later for the corresponding web page and transmits it to the user terminals 12 and 14.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the server computer 16 in FIG. The server computer 16 includes a communication interface 16a, a CPU 1
6b, memory 16c, character database (D /
B) 16d, publication date database y (D / B) 16e,
It has a user database (D / B) 16f and a web page database 16g.

The character database 16d has a CPU
The CG image data created by 16b or another computer is stored, and a conventional CG character can be stored as it is. However, in the present embodiment, since only the body portion is used instead of using the CG character as it is, only the body portion of the conventional CG character may be stored.

The user database 16f stores the face image data of the user sent from the user.
The face image of the user may be transmitted online from the user terminals 12 and 14 to the server computer 16 and stored, or may be transmitted and stored off-line such as by mail. A specific method for collecting face images from the user is as follows.

(1) A notice of recruitment of a user's face image is made on a homepage provided by the server computer 16, and a file upload function is added to the homepage, and the user's face image digital data is transferred to the server computer 1.
Upload to 6.

(2) A notice of recruitment of the user's face image is made on a homepage provided by the server computer 16, and the user attaches digital data of the face image to an e-mail and transmits it.

(3) The user is notified of a face image recruitment on a homepage provided by the server computer 16, and the user stores the digital data of the face image on a recording medium such as an FD, a CD, or a DVD and mails the digital data.

(4) The user is notified of a face image recruitment on a homepage provided by the server computer 16, and the user mails a face photograph. The data is converted into digital data on the server side and stored in the user database.

When the user has a specific character to be combined with the face image, the user specifies the character to be combined with the face image data and associates the designated character data with the face image data. And stored in the user database 16f.

The publication date database 16e stores data for defining how long a face image of each user stored in the user database 16f is to be published on the homepage. In addition to the publication date, the publication order may be stored.

For example, when the face image data of the users a, b, and c is stored in the user database 16f, the publication date database 16e includes the user a: Oct. 1, 2000 to Oct. 8, 2000.
Day User b; October 9, 2000-October 1, 2000
6th User c: stored from October 17, 2000 to October 31, 2000. Of course, the user database 16f
And the publication date database 16e, and the publication date data may be stored in association with the user's face image data to form a single file.

The CPU 16b stores the publication date database 16
Based on the publication date stored in e, a face image of the user to be published is extracted from the user database 16f, and combined with the character image stored in the character database 16d to create a web page. Specifically, a face image of the user is combined with the face portion of the character, a body portion is a CG character, and a face portion is generated as a guide portion that is a face image of the actual user. It is performed by arranging it. The created web page is stored in the web page database 16g.

A plurality of web pages constituting the virtual space are stored in the web page database 16g, and are transmitted to and displayed on the user terminals 12, 14 via the communication interface 16a in accordance with requests from the user terminals 12, 14. You.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the overall processing of this embodiment. First, the server computer 16
Makes a notification that a face image of the user is recruited to one of the web pages, for example, a home page in the virtual space (S
101). For example, at a certain position on the homepage, "I am looking for a person to be a guide now. Your face will be displayed as a guide. Use the application section of this homepage or send an e-mail to the following address Please let us know if you want the date and time you want to be posted, if there are any characters you want, and so on. "

In response to this notification, the user sends the user terminal 1
When the actual face image (actual face image) data is sent by using the mail server 2 or 14 or by mail, the server computer 16 accepts the sent data (S102), and selects the user database as needed to appropriately select the user database. 16f (S103). The "selection" takes into account the case where the number of applications is large. For example, a predetermined number is selected by lottery, and the selection result is notified to each user from the server computer 16 by e-mail or the like (S104). Of course, it is also possible to register real face images of all users who have applied. When the desired publication date, publication period, or desired character is designated by the user, these data are also registered in the user database 16f. Next, scheduling is performed to determine in what order and for how long the real face image of the selected user is used (S1).
05). In this scheduling, for example, the posting order is set on a first-come-first-served basis, the posting period per person is set to one week, and the characters to be combined are changed in units of one week. Of course, if there is a user's specification, that specification may be given priority. For example, if a user specifies three days as a publication period and specifies a specific character to be combined, the publication period for that user is set to three days instead of one week, and the character to be combined is also specified. It shall be assumed. The scheduling is executed by the CPU 16b, and the scheduling result is stored in the publication date database 16e. It is also preferable that the scheduling result be notified to each user by e-mail. Thereby, the applied user can know in advance when to appear as a guide in the virtual space of his / her face image.

After executing the scheduling, the CPU 16b creates a guide according to the schedule (S1).
06), created guide and virtual space homepage (w
eb page) (S107). FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the guide creation processing. CPU1
Reference numeral 6b refers to the schedule stored in the publication date database 16e, specifically, data on when (how long) and who face to use, and from the user database 16f, the actual face image data of the corresponding user is referred to. Extract. In the figure, the posted image means the extracted actual face image of the user. On the other hand, the CPU 16b reads an arbitrary character (or a specified character if a user's specification exists) from the character database 16d, and combines both image data. Specifically, when the character already has a face image, the face part is replaced with a real face image of the user and synthesized. If only the body part of the character is present, the actual body image of the user is added to the body and combined. It goes without saying that the size of the real face image of the user is adjusted according to the size of the character. In synthesizing, the actual face image of the user can be corrected as appropriate. After creating the guide image by combining the character and the real face image, the CPU 16b embeds the guide image in a separately created virtual space homepage (web page) and stores the guide image in the web page database 16g as the final home page. VRML (Virtual Realit
The technique of forming a virtual space on the Internet using the Internet (i.e., Modeling Language) is well known, and a description thereof will be omitted. The virtual space in the present embodiment may be such that, for example, a guide plate exists in the same manner as in the real world, and a guide role exists in front of the guide plate.

Returning to FIG. 3 again, after creating a homepage (web page), the homepage is transmitted to the user terminals 12, 14 in response to a request from the user terminals 12, 14, and the virtual space and the user terminal are sent to the user terminals 12, 14. Display a guide image. Then, the CPU 16b determines whether or not a certain period has elapsed since the publication of the guide image (S10).
8), if the predetermined period, specifically the scheduled publication period, has not been reached, the user terminal 1 continues
The images are displayed on the display 2 and 14 (S109). On the other hand, when the publication period has been reached, the process shifts to the processing of S106 again, the actual face image data of the next user is read out, and synthesized to generate a new guide image. That is, the user terminal 12,
The guide image in the virtual space displayed at 14 is automatically updated to a new user's face image after a certain period of time.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a screen displayed on the user terminals 12 and 14. A virtual town is displayed on the screen 100, and a guide board 102 is displayed in the town.
Then, a guide 104 is displayed in front of the guide plate 102. The guide 104 includes a face portion 104a and a body portion 104.
b, the face part 104 is composed of a real face image of the user, and the body part 104b is composed of a character created by CG. The guide 104 informs the user of facility guidance and service contents of the virtual city by voice or message, and the user is guided to the menu screen shown on the guide board 102 according to the description of the guide 104.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the user does not use a uniform character as a guide but uses a real face image of the user as a guide, so that the user himself participates in this virtual space. You can have the feeling. As a result, the user becomes more familiar with this virtual space than before, and a user-friendly virtual space can be constructed. In addition, an incentive for the user to participate is generated, and more users can more efficiently provide information through the virtual space by using the guide in the virtual space.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made. For example, in the present embodiment, the guide is created by combining the user's real face image and the character.
A guide can also be created by combining a full-body image of the user with a partial image of the character created by CG. For example, a user's whole body image is combined with hairstyle data created by CG to create a user image having a special hairstyle as a guide. Also, instead of the user's actual face image,
Photos of pets such as dogs and cats can also be used. In this case, the torso character may be the same as that of a human, but it is also preferable to prepare an animal as a torso character. Further, an animal torso character may be adopted as a human face image. Further, the entire guide may be composed of a photograph of a pet. Thus, any pet can be used as a guide, and the range of the guide is expanded. In addition, not only pets but also photos of various animals and plants can be adopted. The use of a guide such as a flower or a tree allows a wider selection of users and can meet various requests of users. Further, the guide is not limited to one person. With a plurality of guides, the face portion of each guide can be a real face photograph. A plurality of guides may make the same movement, but it is also preferable that each makes a different movement. Furthermore, a plurality of guides can be a combination of humans, animals and plants. Further, the guide is preferably a 3DCG or a moving image. That is, the user can provide a 3DCG or a moving image instead of a real face photograph, and use this as a guide.
Thus, a guide including a three-dimensional user image can be used.

Further, in this embodiment, the guide including the user's real face image is posted for a certain posting period, but it is also possible to reflect the reaction from the user in the posting period. For example, when a guide using a real face image of a certain user has a good reputation, the server computer 16 can extend the publication period of the publication date database 16e by another week. That is, it is also possible to increase or decrease the publication period by feeding back the reaction from the user.

[0039]

According to the present invention, since the user's face appears in the virtual space as a guide, the user can be more familiar with the virtual space, and other users also appear as real guides. Therefore, it is possible to search the virtual space happily.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a server computer in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a processing flowchart of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of guide image creation according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a screen displayed on a user terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Internet, 12, 14 User terminal, 16
Server computer.

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Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An information providing support system for displaying a guide in a virtual space displayed on a terminal in a system for transmitting and receiving information between a server computer and a terminal connected via a communication network, wherein the server computer comprises: While transmitting virtual space image data to the terminal and transmitting guide image data including a user image provided by the user, the terminal receives data from the server computer, and displays the virtual space image. An information providing support system, wherein the guide image is displayed in the virtual space image. 2. The information providing support system according to claim 1, wherein the user image is a real face image of the user. 3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the guide image data includes a real face image of the user and a CG image.
An information providing support system, which is data synthesized with a body image of a character created in (1). 4. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the server computer updates at least a user image portion of the guide image data at predetermined intervals and transmits the updated guide image data. Support system. 5. An information providing support apparatus for displaying a virtual space and a guide on a terminal connected to a communication network, comprising: means for storing user image data provided by a user; Means for storing data; means for generating guide data by combining the character data and the user image data; and means for transmitting virtual space data and the guide data to the terminal. Information providing support device. 6. The information providing support device according to claim 4, wherein the user image data is real face image data of a user. 7. The information providing support device according to claim 5, further comprising: means for updating the user image data in the guide data. 8. An information providing support method for displaying a guide in a virtual space displayed on a terminal in a system for transmitting and receiving information between a server computer and a terminal connected via a communication network, the user using the terminal. Acquiring user image data from a storage device, storing the user image data in a storage device, generating guide image data including the user image data, transmitting virtual space data and the guide image data to the terminal, Displaying a virtual space and a guide image arranged in the virtual space. 9. The information providing method according to claim 8, wherein the user image data is real face data of a user. 10. The information providing support according to claim 9, wherein the guide image data is generated by synthesizing the actual face image data and body data of a character created by CG. Method. 11. The information providing support method according to claim 8, wherein the user image data is updated to new user image data every predetermined period.